Post by warsaw on Sept 1, 2012 13:55:40 GMT -9
King of grizzly bears ‘terrorized’ Colorado until 1904
feared him.
Livestock fed him.
A massive grizzly bear roamed south-central Colorado in the closing days of the 19th century. He had a peculiar gait, sort of a moseying stride that gave him his nickname, Old Mose.
He was smarter than a fox, they said. Could tell if a man was armed with a rifle. Treated fence posts like match sticks and walked right through them, not around them. One cowboy reported he’d seen Old Mose pull down a running horse with one swipe of his paw, then kill it with a bite to the neck. Another report claimed he’d killed three bulls on one ranch alone.
Whatever the tales, this particular Ursus horribilis earned even more fame. An old timer in the area was quoted in newspaper accounts of the day: “There were two or three men that had gone to the hills to look for him. They never returned and their bodies were never recovered.”
In 1904, a savvy professional hunter named James W. Anthony came to the area with his pack of dogs. He was persuaded to go after Old Mose. After a month of tracking and searching and getting lucky, hunter met his prey on Black Mountain. Anthony’s description of the killing, written three years afterward, makes for sober reading. (Denver Post; May 15, 1904, p.3, features section) It is tempered a bit by the respectful tone used to describe the great bruin. It took four rifle shots hitting their mark to kill Colorado’s king of grizzlies.
In Canon City, after dressing, Old Mose weighed about 900 lbs. He was killed just after his spring emergence, so might have weighed as much as 1,500 lbs. had he made it through the summer. His hide measured 10 ft., 4 inches long from nose to tail and was 9 ft., 6 inches wide. The Canon City Municipal Museum requested the hide, but the hunter took his prize with him back to California. He eventually gave it to the zoology department of the University of California, Berkeley. Presumably, it still sits in the vault there, where it has contributed to scientific research for 100 years.
The 900 lb figure is greatly exaggerated IMHO.
feared him.
Livestock fed him.
A massive grizzly bear roamed south-central Colorado in the closing days of the 19th century. He had a peculiar gait, sort of a moseying stride that gave him his nickname, Old Mose.
He was smarter than a fox, they said. Could tell if a man was armed with a rifle. Treated fence posts like match sticks and walked right through them, not around them. One cowboy reported he’d seen Old Mose pull down a running horse with one swipe of his paw, then kill it with a bite to the neck. Another report claimed he’d killed three bulls on one ranch alone.
Whatever the tales, this particular Ursus horribilis earned even more fame. An old timer in the area was quoted in newspaper accounts of the day: “There were two or three men that had gone to the hills to look for him. They never returned and their bodies were never recovered.”
In 1904, a savvy professional hunter named James W. Anthony came to the area with his pack of dogs. He was persuaded to go after Old Mose. After a month of tracking and searching and getting lucky, hunter met his prey on Black Mountain. Anthony’s description of the killing, written three years afterward, makes for sober reading. (Denver Post; May 15, 1904, p.3, features section) It is tempered a bit by the respectful tone used to describe the great bruin. It took four rifle shots hitting their mark to kill Colorado’s king of grizzlies.
In Canon City, after dressing, Old Mose weighed about 900 lbs. He was killed just after his spring emergence, so might have weighed as much as 1,500 lbs. had he made it through the summer. His hide measured 10 ft., 4 inches long from nose to tail and was 9 ft., 6 inches wide. The Canon City Municipal Museum requested the hide, but the hunter took his prize with him back to California. He eventually gave it to the zoology department of the University of California, Berkeley. Presumably, it still sits in the vault there, where it has contributed to scientific research for 100 years.
The 900 lb figure is greatly exaggerated IMHO.